Education for all

Everytime the violation of "human rights" is mentioned or talked about, the picture that immediately comes to mind are the faces of the downtrodden and the oppressed; the victims of injustices who have been taken advantaged of by others; those who suffer physical or mental abuses due to the unrestrained use of governmental powers very evident especially during the martial law regime. The concept usually conveyed is a positive use of force by one person that harms and injures another and affects his dignity and personality because of an outright disregard of his primal rights as a human being. Violation of human rights is commonly equated with action that deprives a man of what he is entitled to have, to do, or to receive from others within the limits prescribed by law. But if we consider this real signification of human rights as those which one person ought to have or receive from another, they being withheld from him, or not in his possession, then their violation can also mean inaction on the part of those who are bound to extend or give them. In this sense, a human right acquires the nature of a "claim" that can be enforced.

Hence, several international conventions of nations have already considered not only education but " quality education" as a human right, side by side with a "decent standard of living, adequate nutrition, health care, decent work and protection against calamities". The right to quality education is now a human right that citizens are entitled to and can demand from the "duty bearer", which is none other than the government called upon to "respect, protect and fulfill" it. The duty to respect requires the government "not to breach directly or indirectly the enjoyment of this right; the duty to protect requires it to take measures to prevent third parties from abusing the right; and the duty to fulfill requires it to adopt appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures towards the full realization of this right".

Indeed, many countries have learned to appreciate the value of education; that education, especially quality education is the best way "to reduce poverty and eliminate extreme poverty". Already, a world education forum was held in Dakar the capital of the western African country of Senegal reaffirming the category of education as a fundamental human right and calling for the adoption of "education for all" (EFA) as a policy on the national level. In the Philippines, as early as 1987, our Constitution has already mandated that the "State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all"( Art. IV Section 1).Some legislations have already been passed towards this end notably RA 4670 known as magna carta for teachers and RA 9155 which restructured the Department of Education. Free compulsory education in the grade school level is now also enforced with education having the highest budgetary allocation of P 104.4 billion. Yet all these moves seem to be insufficient.

Thus last October 28 to 31, a workshop was organized by the Unesco National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM) spearheaded by its Secretary General, Dr. Preciosa Soliven, to discuss how to achieve EFA by universalizing the right to education of good quality. This workshop was participated by about fifty delegates coming from Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The workshop was indeed a forum where delegates from the different countries exchanged notes on the various difficulties encountered in achieving EFA. Resource persons from our country were Congressman Edmundo Reyes and Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus. Senator Cayetano could not make it but he sent his Chief of Staff, Atty. Ramon Luna who presented his paper. After hearing Congressman Reyes and Secretary de Jesus, my hopes soared once more that our country may be in good hands, at least in matters concerning education of our citizens. Rep. Reyes simply convinced me that our Congress still has a bright future. He knows whereof he speaks as he presented the key problem areas in our educational system, particularly our poor economic condition, underinvestment in education, centralized system of educational management, curriculum congestion because of standardization and bilingual policy, and the dim long term prospects of teachers compared with other professions. Secretary de Jesus also inspires confidence with his in depth analysis of having access to, but sacrificing the quality of education. Senator Cayetano mentioned several pieces of proposed bills that will promote quality educatioin.

The forum really brought into focus the enormous problems we have in achieving EFA compared to other countries. What’s encouraging however is that there is an open admission that we have problems in education worse perhaps than our neighbors. And more encouraging is that the private sector is not remiss in doing its part. In fact another "revolution" a la people power has been launched to assist, not to topple the government. This is the "adopt a school" project initiated by the Foundation For Worldwide People Power Inc., another revolution worth supporting because "education is the best weapon against poverty".

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